Christmas Aboard the C.G.C. Tamaroa - Military Monday

(Text Copyright (c) 2014 Cynthia Shenette) One of the things I love about blogging is when I take a single item or record and try to do a bit of research on the item before I write about it.  I am fortunate in that I have so many letters, photos, and pieces of memorabilia as part of my family history collection, but sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees.  Take this Christmas 1951 program from the United States Coast Guard Cutter Tamaroa which I recently looked at for the very first time.

My uncle Robert Szerejko (1929-2012), my mother's brother, spent time in the Coast Guard.  I don't know too much about his time in the Coast Guard, other than he spent some time in Greenland and stayed in touch with his Coast Guard skipper, "Skipper Gray" for decades.  My Uncle Bob was like that.  He was the kind of guy who made an impression on people, who people wanted to stay in touch with, whether it was an old friend from his Coast Guard days or someone he built a post and beam house for as part of his house building business. When I asked my cousin if her dad ever mentioned the Tamaroa, she didn't remember the Tamaroa specifically, but since he is listed in the program as one of the men who present for Christmas in 1951 we can probably assume he spent some time on the Tamaroa.

What did I learn about the C.G.C. Tamaroa?  The Tamaroa was launched on 9 October 1943 and saw action in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, including being involved in Marianas, the Philippines, and Iwo Jima operations. She was the first cutter on sight after the sinking of the Andrea Doria, and most surprisingly was the Coast Guard cutter made famous in Sebastian Junger's book, The Perfect Storm!  The crew of the Tamaroa saved the crew of the Satori, a sailing vessel in distress 75 miles off the island of Nantucket, during the 1991 No Name Storm.  You can read an excellent article, The Perfect Storm, 20 Years Later, on the Coast Guard Compass: The Official Blog of U.S. Coast Guard.  You can also read more about the Tamaroa here, here and here.

I love this program!  It's amazing how one little thing can say so much. Now I know where my uncle was, who he was with, and what he ate on Christmas day in 1951!  Even the menu takes us back in time.  How many people still put peanut butter on their holiday table! 

If you served on the Tamaroa in the 1950s, recognize any of the names listed in this program, or remember my uncle Bob Szerejko I would love to hear from you!

Menu

~~

TOMATO JUICE     SHRIMP COCKTAIL

TURKEY RICE SOUP

CRACKERS     BUTTER     ROLLS

ASSORTED PICKLES     STUFFED OLIVES

PEANUT BUTTER     CELERY HEARTS

CRANBERRY SAUCE

ROAST TOM TURKEY

OYSTER DRESSING     GIBLET GRAVY

MASHED TURNIPS

VIRGINIA BAKED HAM

PINEAPPLE GRAVY     MASHED POTATOES

COLE SLAW

CIDER     COFFEE     MILK

FRUIT CAKE     PLUM PUDDING

MINCE MEAT PIE     PUMPKIN PIE

ASSORTED CANDY     ASSORTED NUTS

CIGARS & CIGARETTES

Officers

Thompson, Warner K., Jr., CDR, USCG   Lutzi, Philip C., ENS, USCG
Hinkleman, George C., LT, USCGR    Bassett, Raymond C., Jr. ENS, USCG
Krause, Herbert, LT, USCG             Beach, John W., BOSN, USCG
Treib, Seymour L., LTJG, USCG         Mears, Grayson J., MACH, USCG
Gendler, Irvin, ENS, USCG

Enlisted Men

     Emery, Otis W., CSC                    Dunhour, Joseph W., ENC
     Frey, Leo (n), ENC                       Kirkman, George R., EMCA (P)
     Tarr, Howard R., Jr., BMC (P)        Lucey, Christopher J., QMC

Aery, Walter H., EN1 (P)                    Anderson, Gilbert C., SN
Avedisia, Harry (n), SN                       Berry, Leo D., SN
Berni, Albert J., FN (EM)                    Bledsoe, Marvin R., EN2 (P)
Casale, Robert (n), RM1 (HF)             Cleavenger, Jack R., EN3 (P)
Colegrove, Howard C., FN                  Colford, Sidney J., Jr., SN
Cooper, Grady (n), FN                        Cotton, Paul S., SD3 (P)
Czapski, Alexander (n), SN                  Fallo, Charles C., Jr. FN
Fasano, Lun A., RM2                          Feierabend, Richard F., SA
Gaines, Eugene C., SD3 (P)                 Fulton, William D. QM1 (P)
Grinage, James R., EM2                      Gilmore, Marshall C., QM2
Harris, James (n), TN                          Grogan, John J., EN3 (P)
Hildebrand, Richard E., SA                  Hendricks, Robert N., SN
Jones, Russell W., DC3 (P)                  Hymers, Douglas J., YN1
Kerbel, Stanley E., SN                         Keister, Gerald J., EN3 (P)
Lake, Henry E., RM3                          Lopez, Jose L., EN3 (P)
Lewis, Alfred F., FN (EN)                   McDermontt, William G., HM2
Masker, Raymond E., CS1                   Mendicino, Vincent T., SN
McDevitt, Joseph j., SN                       Moran, James F., DC1
Menge, Fred W. , EN1                         Noorman, Jack M., SA
Nicolaus, James E., SA                        Owen, Urel P., Jr., YN3
Oreck, Marshall B., SA                        Paul H., SK1 (P)
Palicia, Leo (n) EM3 (P)                      Pospisil, George H., RM3
Petkovich, Charles R., SA                    Rossi, Ralmonde (n), ET2
Rappaport, Isaac I., SA                        Sciarrino, John F., SA
Sanders, Luther (n), CS2                      Sensenig, John H., Jr., FN
Seibel, Herman (n), GM3 (P)               Smith, Clifford E., BM3 (P)
Shortt, Harry R., SN                            Spahr,     John E., BM3 (P)
Smith, Norman C., SN                         Steindler, "H" K., ET3
Standaert., Richard E., SN                   Sward, Gordan A., SA
Stroud, Myrel E., BM3                        Szerejko, Robert A., SN
Switzer, Dean W., SA                         Theriault, Joseph L. P., SN
Thomas, Sydney W., YN3 (P)             Travis, Charles W., SA
Walker, Clifton B., Jr., QM1                Watson, John T. EN2
Wilson, Sidney A., F N                        Wood, Alvin C. RD3 (P)
Yost, James C., FN (EN)



Other Posts You Might Like:

Analyzing A Photo: The Holiday Party
Christmas in Poland, 1929 - Wordless Wednesday
Fun on the Slopes - Wordless Wednesday
More Than Meets the Eye - Tuesday's Tip

Analyzing A Photo: The Holiday Party

The USDA Worcester (MA) Office Christmas Party, Circa 1947

(Digital Images; Photograph and Card Privately Held By Cynthia Shenette; Text Copyright (c) 2013 Cynthia Shenette)  I hoped to write this post sometime in December, but time got away from me, so rather than wait until next December I decided to make this my first post for 2013 while my research is still fresh in my mind!  It's interesting what you can learn about a photo without knowing much about the context in which it was taken.  Sometimes I find that the story behind a photo is like a little mystery that reveals itself over time; you notice details one day that you didn't see the day before.

My mom, Christine (Szerejko) Shenette is the young woman in the front row standing to the right of the Christmas tree.  Obviously the people in the photo are having a little holiday celebration of some sort, but I no idea who the people were or how they related to my mom's life.  Mom looks quite young in the photo, and the clothing styles in the image seem to date from sometime in the 1940s.  I figured the party might be connected to a church activity, college, or work.  I didn't recognize any of the people in the photo other than my mom so I knew it wasn't a family photo.  The people in the photo are not of college age so I took a guess that the group was probably work related.

In the 1940s Mom worked for two main employers--the ration board in Worcester, MA during World War II and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the Federal Building (also in Worcester) until she was married in June of 1953.  Last summer when I looked at this photo something jumped out at me.  Look through the window.  What do you see?  Notice the architectural elements on the building across the street? They are pretty distinctive.  I drive by the old Federal Building on my way to the Worcester Public Library all the time, but I don't usually look up. The next time I went to the library I did, and what did I see?  The top of the building on the other side of the street from the Federal Building has the same architectural elements as the building in my photo!  The holiday photo was taken while my mom worked for the USDA!

Once I knew where the photo was taken I took a closer look to see if I could recognize any of the people in the photo.  Sure enough I did!  The woman in the dark dress standing three people to the right of my mom was my mom's friend Shirley (Putnam) Johnson!  I knew Shirley as a much older woman.  I didn't see her all that often and didn't recognize her until I was able to put the photo in the correct context!

I checked the city directories at the library to narrow down the possible date range in which the photo could have been taken.  My mom is first listed as working at the USDA in the 1947 city directory.  She still worked for the ration board in early 1946 when when the 1946 directory was compiled, but most likely changed jobs later that year.  

The photo was taken in the late morning.  Look at the hands on the clock and the Danish on the table!  There is snow on the roof of the building across the street.  I might be able to narrow the date of the photo even further if I check the local weather to see if some of the Decembers between 1946 and 1952 did not have snow before Christmas.  Quite a few people worked for the USDA in the Federal Building, and there were several different regional offices.  See the evergreen corsage my mom has on?  Some of the other ladies in the photo have the same corsage, including Shirley.  I know Shirley worked in the same office as my mom.  I wonder if the ladies with the corsages worked in the same office as well.

My mom stayed in touch with her co-workers after she left the office in 1953.  During the late 1980s and 1990s the group met for lunch twice a year at Rom's restaurant in Sturbridge, MA. Mom said her co-workers were a nice group of people, and they still enjoyed one another's company some forty years later!  Given that she stayed connected all of those years I wondered who some of the other people in the group photo were. Well, didn't I stumble on something in my collection of stuff to help me to figure it out!

When my mom left the office to get married in June of 1953 her co-workers gave her a group wedding gift.  I don't know what the gift was, but I found the card that accompanied the gift in my collection.  All the people who worked with my mom signed the card!  My initial thought was that some of the people who were with the USDA in 1953 might have worked there in the 1940s as well.  Sure enough!  When I looked up the names of the people on the card in the city directories and checked their individual directory listings, I discovered that more than half of the people who signed the card in 1953 worked for the USDA in 1947!

The names on the card are: George W. Mingin, Walter B. Shaw, Shirley Johnson, Charles C. Starr, W. Earl Paddock, Lois Nelson, Irene Davis, Ralph C. Reynolds, Charles W. Turner, "Penny" [Eleanor] Reynis, Mary Lazaro, Val [Valerie] Pyzynski, Fran [Frances] Hesselton, Mary Cassidy, Bill Miller, Leon Marshall, Mildred Thomas, Jean Stewart, Evelyn Lyman, Ken [Kenneth] Boyden, Edna Sommerfeld, Arthur L. Verdi, Robert H. Beisha, Ruth Peterson, Richard H. Clark, Gayland E. Folley, Gardner Norcross, Ruth M. Darling.

I know my mother stayed quite friendly with Shirley and her husband Wallace Johnson for many years.  I also know that my mother was quite friendly with Jean Stewart and Ruth [Ruthie] Peterson and remember meeting them many years ago.  If you know or are related to any of the people listed on my card, recognize any of the people in the photograph or knew someone who worked for the USDA office in Worcester during the 1940s or 1950s I'd love to hear from you!

It really is pretty amazing how much you can find out about something without knowing much at all.  Six months ago the holiday party photo was just another photo lying at the bottom of a box in my collection.  Today it has a nice little holiday story to tell!


Other Posts You Might Like:

Happy New Year!
An Interview With My Grandmother
Christmas In Poland, 1929 - Wordless Wednesday
More Than Meets the Eye - Tuesday's Tip

An Interview With My Grandmother

(Original Image and Text, Copyright (c) 2012 Cynthia Shenette) In December of 1953 my grandmother, Antonina (Bulak) Szerejko, gave an interview to the local paper in which she talked about her family traditions at Christmas.  I remembered seeing the newspaper clipping with the interview years ago, but I didn't know what happened to it.  I was sad to think that perhaps it had been lost, but didn't serendipity strike!  I found it a couple of weeks ago as I was sorting through the last two boxes of items from my mother's house, and just in time for me to write about the interview for the 113th edition of Carnival of Genealogy!  While I can't reprint the exact text of the article for copyright reasons, I can present quotes, information, and one of my grandmother's recipes which was included in the article.

A Gathering of Family

"He's the one that eats me out of house and home."

My mother, Christine (Szerejko) Shenette, as well as her sister and her family, and my mom's brother who was in college in Indiana returned home for Christmas.  I had to laugh at the quote from my grandmother about her son.  My nine-year-old son eats constantly.  My husband and I joke that we are both going to have to get part-time jobs when he hits his teen years to make extra money to keep him sufficiently fed.  Apparently a hollow leg runs in the family!

Wigilia Supper

"We finally gave it up, because it was too much to do with a big Christmas dinner to fix the next day--too many dishes to wash and the children got restless sitting through all the different courses."

As long as my great-grandfather, Antoni Bulak, was alive my grandmother continued the tradition of Wigilia on Christmas Eve.  Wigilia is a feast of seven, nine, or 11 courses.  Many Poles celebrate Wigilia today.  Dinner involves an uneven number of courses, and there must be an even number of people at the table.  An extra chair is set in case a stranger, symbolic of the God Child, appears at the door to join the family for dinner.  Christmas Eve day was a fast day.  Courses included pike with horseradish sauce, baked sauerkraut with yellow peas, and other fish and vegetable dishes.

Passing the Oblatek

"It means that no matter what corner of the world you are in, the family ties are still strong.  On Christmas Eve we pass it around and wish each other a good year to come.  If there are any disputes or hard feelings in the family, that's the time they are made up."

The oblatek is similar to a communion wafer and is stamped with holy pictures.  My grandfather's family in Warsaw sent the oblatek every year.  I will admit to getting a bit teary when I opened a card earlier this year from my grandfather's family in Warsaw who I reconnected with in 2010.  Inside the card was an oblatek!   Despite all that time and distance, family ties and traditions remain the same.

Polish Mushrooms

My mom use to talk about the delicious mushrooms from Poland that they ate during the holidays.  She said they were very expensive so my grandmother would only use a few and then only on special occasions like Christmas and Easter.  According to the interview the mushrooms were purchased at a kosher delicatessen, and she said they had a unique flavor "something like steak."  She also said that my grandfather Adolf Szerejko, who was originally from Warsaw, used to spend summers with relatives in the country during his childhood in Poland.  This information was new to me.  Apparently he had fond memories of mushroom hunting in the woods during his summer visits with the family.

Christmas Marzipan

"In Europe they don't have candy on the counters the way we do here, so we made marzipan at home to hang on the Christmas tree.  My mother was afraid of using coloring, I remember, except for the juice of carrots or boiled onions--she thought it might be poisonous."

One of the best things about the interview is that it includes a number of my grandmother's recipes.  I don't have any of her written recipes so this was a particularly exciting find.

Marzipan (Marcypany)

1 pound almonds, blanched
1 pound powdered sugar, 
2 tablespoons rosewater
vegetable coloring

Grind blanched almonds very fine.   Combine with sugar and flavoring. Cook until mixture leaves sides of saucepan.  Add coloring, if desired. Roll out like piecrust until one-fourth inch thick.  Cut in small hearts or other fancy shapes.  Decorate with cherries or other glazed fruits.  Place in warm place to dry.

These are used instead of candy and hung on the Christmas tree for the children.

I was thrilled to find this clipping.  It's almost like my grandmother knew I was looking for it and led me to the right spot to find it just in time for this COG!

While my grandmother was never much of a drinker she loved creme de menthe and did treat herself a couple times a year to a grasshopper.  It's my tradition to have one during the holidays, partly because I love grasshoppers and partly because they remind me of her. So here I am with my grasshopper as I finish up my COG post on New Year's Day 2012.

Cheers!  Here's to you Gram, and thanks.

Submitted for the 113th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.


Other Posts You Might Like:

The Stories My Grandmother Told Me
Photo Story: Grandma and Grandpa Meet -Wordless Wednesday
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun...
My Family Tree: A Literal Interpretation

Christmas in Poland, 1929 - Wordless Wednesday

(Photograph Privately Held by Cynthia Shenette; Text Copyright (c) 2011 Cynthia Shenette) This is a photo of Tomasz Walkowski and family of Kepno, Poland.  The photo was taken in Kepno.  I do not believe the Walkowskis are related to my family but are friends of my grandmother's family who did live in Kepno.  According to family letters the Walkowskis had a son and a daughter.  The children in the photo are dressed very similarly.  Can you tell who is the boy and who is the girl?  I'm not sure, but I'll hazard a guess. My answer is at the end of this post.  I love the detail in the photo--the children's toys, the clothing styles, the decorations on the tree, the rug, the wallpaper.  The back of the photo is stamped with a photographer's stamp: Zaklad Fotograficzny / Jan Nawrocki / Kepno, Wlkp. Warszawska 23.

My Answer: The boy is the child on the left on the rocking horse, and the girl is the child on the right holding a doll.  What do you think?

Other Posts You Might Like:

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Me and My Doll
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Baby It's Cold Outside - Wordless Wednesday